Liberal MP Paul Fletcher says his party needs more women as candidates and parliamentarians, but stopped short of calling for quotas following a post-mortem of their federal election defeat.

The scathing review found women abandoned the Liberal Party in droves at the election, with submissions saying the party was failing to adequately represent the values and priorities of women in modern Australia.

A key recommendation called for a 50 per cent female target within 10 years or three terms, and measures to increase female representation in parliament as quickly as possible.

Mr Fletcher said many women across the country who had traditionally been Liberal voters, “chose to vote another way”.

“Australian women are telling us that they want to see a greater focus from the Liberal Party on their needs and concerns,” he told ABC radio on Friday.

“Part of that clearly is we need to have more women candidates and more women parliamentarians.”

When asked if he supported quotas for women, Mr Fletcher would not be drawn on the topic.

“The particular tools that we use are a matter for the Liberal Party organisation, but what I very strongly believe is we need more women candidates,” he said.

“If we are to regain the extent of support that we need to regain, then it’s very important that we have more women candidates, and more women parliamentarians … that is absolutely self evident.”

Mr Fletcher said the party also needed to adequately reflect the diverse cultural makeup of Australian society within its ranks.

-AAP